Thursday, July 29, 2010

SUCCESS!

As you may remember from earlier this month, MAC teamed up with the sisters at the Rodarte fashion house to create a new collection of cosmetics to complement Rodarte's new line of fashion "inspired" by a road trip though various cities in Mexico, one of them being Juarez Mexico. If you aren't already aware you can read my post on Juarez HERE.

The outcry from the public was huge! Blog posts were written (see most of them HERE) and petitions were created (See HERE). But today MAC release a new apology vowing to donate ALL of their global profits from the MAC / Rodarte collection to a newly created initiative to to raise awareness and provide on-the-ground support to the women and girls in Juarez.

Here is the official press release:

MAC and Rodarte apologize to the victims and their families in Juarez, the people of Mexico, the Mexican Government and concerned global citizens

MEXICO CITY, México, July 29, 2010 – In response to public concern over the limited edition MAC Rodarte makeup collection, set to launch in fall 2010, MAC will donate all of its global profits from this collection to a newly created initiative to raise awareness and provide on-the-ground support to the women and girls in Juarez. MAC and Rodarte are deeply sorry that this makeup collection was so offensive to the people of Mexico and concerned global citizens.

This announcement follows a meeting last evening in Mexico City with MAC executives and Mexican government officials, including CONAVIM (Comisión Nacional Para Prevenir y Erradicar la Violencia Contra las Mujeres/National Commission to Prevent and Eradicate Violence Against Women.)

During the meeting, held at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this collective group committed to working together on the overall direction of the new initiative to help the women and girls of Juarez and to raise global awareness of their plight. MAC executives reiterated their deep regret and reinforced that it was never MAC’s or Rodarte’s intent to minimize the suffering of the women and girls of Ciudad Juarez.

In the coming weeks, MAC and Rodarte will be consulting with members of CONAVIM´s advisory board, as well as other local and global experts, to develop a comprehensive framework that provides grants to local and international organizations with a track record of improving the lives of the women and girls in Juarez.

“We are deeply sorry and apologize to everyone we offended, especially the victims, the women and girls of Juarez and their families. We have heard the response of concerned global citizens loud and clear and are doing our very best to right our wrong. The essence of MAC is to give back and care for the community and our initial handling of this makeup collection was not reflective of MAC’s values. MAC and Rodarte are committed to using these learnings to raise awareness on this important issue and to leverage our unique platform to help the women and girls of Juarez,” said MAC President John Demsey.

“Rodarte is committed to using creativity for positive social change. As designers, we strongly feel it is our responsibility to use ideas and actions for the good of our global community and are truly sorry for the offense we have caused. We are raising our voices in support of the strong women and girls of Juarez and joining others who are working internationally to improve their lives,” said Kate and Laura Mulleavy, designers of Rodarte.

Last week, MAC and Rodarte announced they would also be renaming the products and redesigning the marketing materials associated with the collection.

MAC has a longstanding tradition of service in Mexico, supporting important social causes in the country such as HIV prevention and treatment. Since 2002, the MAC AIDS Fund has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to local entities, including Fundación Eudes, La Casa de la Sal, A.C., Ser Humano, A.C., Mesón de la Misericordia Divina A.C., Pirana Studio, and Fundación Unidos por un México Vivo.

MAC has had operations in Mexico since 1999. The brand currently employs more than 150 local professionals.

Mimi: Well I'm still not 100% sure I want to get anything from this collection. I have already donated to a charity to help the women of Juarez, but I'm going to wait until I see it in real life before I make a decision to purchase.

It's a good thing I also read blogs on my phone, because I read this post this morning on the bus to uni, and actually brought up the MAC Aids Fund and this new initiative in my class on social entrepreneurship and causes :)